Curling stick



Dec. 27, 192 7.

J. MET:

cunmne STICK Filed April 5, 1926 INVENTOR Outw- ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 27, 1927. i

I 1,653,812 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN METZ, E JAMAICA, NEW YORK, assrenon TO KEEN wavrne COMPANY, me, or

NEW YORK, n. Y., A oonronnrion on NEW YoEK. i

ounmne srroir.

Application filed April 5, 1926. Serial No. 99,689.

The invention relates in general to hair wavers of the type used for permanently waving hair on a persons head, and the invention specifically relates to an improvemeet in the clutch feature used for securing a" centrally positioned rod against relative rotary movement in a tube on which is curled the hair to be treated.

It has been usual in the construction of hair curlers of the type illustrated to lock the central rod to the tube by some form of ratchet or clutch which in every case necessitated the use of some form of holding spring, or which otherwise depended upon the resiliency of some metallic holding part. Such curling sticks when used in the art of permanent hair waving are subjected to extremely high temperatures and as a practical matter it is extremely diflicult to provide anything in the nature of a spring which will retain its temper for any material length oftime under the conditions of high temperature heat to which they are subjected. Another objection inherent in constructions now on the market is that they require a certain amount of machine work which adds materially to their cost and this is particularly objectionable in this art where the rods have but a short life and must necessarily bemade to sell cheaply.

Accordingly, the primary object of the invention is to provide a simplified form of curling stickwhich will have alloi the advantages of the type of such stick on which the hair can be turned by rotating thefinger piece at the outer endjand which at the same time will be substantially free of any extensive machining to manufacture the same and which will eliminate the necessity for using 40 springs or for depending upon the flexibility of some of the component parts.

Broadly, the improvement in the clutch feature of the disclosure is obtained by using a springless clutch in which the finger piece used for rotating the inner rod canbe moved withoutmaterial resistance to and from its clutching position and which clutching effect to prevent relative rotary movement of the parts may be attained without the necessity of machining teeth or equivalent ratchet forming members.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawings. and in part will be more fully set forth in the following particular description of one form of device embodying my invention, and

the invention also consists incertain new and novel features of construction and combination of claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig.1 is a view partially in side elevation and partly in axial section of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a detailed view of the innerend of the tube showing the end piece at right angles to the showing inFig. l;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4- is a view mainly in side elevation of the clutch end of the device with the clutch elements in inoperative relation.

In the drawings there is shown an outer tube 10 which may be tapered towardsone end as is known in such constructions. At the smaller end of the outer tube is rotatably mounted an end piece 12 having the usual bifurcated ends 13 to which the inner end of the coil of hair is secured and which end piece is provided with a tubular ex-' tension 14 intruded into and rotatably mounted within the small end of the outer tube 10.

At the outer endof the tube is secured a multi-sided head 15 formed from standard octagon sided tubing and having a bore slightly larger than the bore of the tube 10. Rotatably mounted in the bore of the head 15 is a cylindrical bearing piece 16 provided at its outer end with an extension 17 square parts hereinafterset forth and in cross section for the portion which fits in I the head 15. Positioned between the end piece 12 and the bearing piece 16 is aninner rod 18 having a driving fit in the endpieces and acting to hold the end pieces against relative axial movement in the outer tube 10. The outer end of the extension constitutes a centering rod 19 for centering the rod inthe usual heaters employed in the permanent p in Fig. 1.

- centrally thereof with a square hole into which is fitted and through which extends the square portion of the extension 17. From this construction, it will be appreciated that the finger piece is keyed to the extension, has

a limited freedom of axial movement thereon and provides an easilymanipulated finger piece for turning the 1nner rod. Thefinger piece includes a flat sided flange 22 the inner bore 23 of which is octagon shape and ineludes flat sides which correspond to and are designed to it against the flat outer sides of the head 15 when the clutch elements thus formed are in telescoped relation as shown While the invention is complete as thus far described, it is hereby suggested that the finger piece include some suitable form of friction creating means for restraining the normal freedom of axial movement of the finger piece as it slides on the extension 17.

For this purpose a weak coil siring 24: is

inserted in a pocket 25 drilled radially almost thru the head 21. The spring is positioned with one end bearing on one of the flat faces which form the extension 17 and the other end bearing on the bottom of the drilled pocket. It will be noted that this spring does not materially resist the axial movement of the finger piece and head 15 from their mutual clutching relation or from their unclutched osition; a

a In operation it isunderstood that the coil of hair is secured to the bifurcated ends 13 of the end piece and that the coil is wrapped on the outer-tube and secured as is usual with similar devices now known. The fingerpiece is moved olitwardly towards the stop and rotated in the direction necessary to tighten the coil to any desired extent afterwhich the finger piece is moved into its clutching engagement with the head 15. It is understood that the non-circular formation of the bore in the finger piece telescoping the similarly constructed ontersurface of the head will look there two parts from any tendency towards relative rotary movement and in this way the inner rod and associated end pieces are securely locked to the outer tube.

It is noted that the parts which go to make up the clutch are formed from standard size hexagon tubing which can be bought in the open market and this eliminates the usual machining operation necessary to cut teeth on the corresponding parts ofdevices now known. 'iThe several parts of the inner rod are assembled simply by driving one into the other and this might even be done in the case of the engagement of the head with the outer tube thusveliminating the necessity of thensual screw threadin Even the friction creating spring may beomitted thus eliminating the necessity of drilling the finger piece to provide the spring retaining pocket, for the friction between the finger piece and the extension may be designed so that suflicient frictional resistance is provided to prevent accidental movement of the clutch parts.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1.,A hair curler including an outer tube,

an end piece rotatably mounted in thetube at one end, a head secured to the tube at its other end and having a" plurality of flat faces parallel to its axis, a bearing piece rotatably mounted 1n theihead and lnmted by the tube from movement 1n one direction,

an inner rod fixed to the end piece and bear 1 ing piece and acting to hold the same against axial movement relative to thetubc,j said bearing piece provuled with a reduced extension square in oross'section, a stop secured to the outer end of the extension, a finger piece in the "term of a cap having a bottom with. a square hole containing the extension and having a flange adapted in one position to telescope the head, the inner wall of the flange having flat faces adapted to coact with the hat faces on the head to form a clutch for securing the end pieces and their connectingrod against relative movement in the tube. a 1

2. A hair curler includlngi anouter tube, an end piece rotatably mounted 1n thetube at one end, a head secured to the tube at its other end and having a plurality of flat faces parallel to its axis, a he arin piece rotatably mounted in the head and limited by the tube from movement in one direction,

an inner rod fixed to the end piece and hearing piece and actlng to hold the same against axial movement relative to the tube said bearing piece provided with a reduce extension square in cross section, a stop secured to the outerend of the extensioma finger piece in the form of a cap having a bottom with a square hole containing the extension and having a flange adapted in one position to telescope the head, the inner wallof the flange having flat faces adapted,

to coact with the flat faces on the head to form a clutch for securing the end pieces and their connecting rod against relative movement in the tube and l'riction creating. means tending to reslst the normal freedom,

ofaxial movement of the finger piece.

8. A hair curler comprising an outer tube having a mult1-s1ded head secured to one end thereof, an end piece rotatablyniounted in the other end thereohan inner rod post tioned within the tube secured atone end,

to, the end piece and projecting beyontljthe head at the opposite end thereof, and a loclo ingfinger piece frecly slidable on and hav ing a, limitedyfreedom of ax al movement on the extended end of the inner rod. and secured to the rod to rotate the same about its axis, and said finger piece having a multisided bore adapted in one of its axially shifted positions to telescope the head and engage the same to lock the rod against reiative rotary movement with the outer tu e.

4. A hair curler comprising an outer tube, a rod mounted for rotary movement in the tube and free to rotate in the tube and fixed against relative axial movement, a telescopic clutch including one element thereof secured to the tube and the other element secured to the rod to rotate the same and having a freedom of movement axially of the rod to move to and from a clutching engagement with the coacting element onithe tube.

5. A hair curler comprising an outer tube, a rod provided with means for mounting the same for rotary movement inthe tube, one of said means provided with an exten sion having a stop and having a flat side, a clutch having one element thereof secured to the end of the rod adjacent'the extension and the coacting element slidably mounted onthe extension, keyed to the fiat side to rotate therewith and limited in its outward movement by said stop.

6. A hair curler comprising an outer tube, a central rod rotatably mounted therein, a finger piece at one end for rotating the central rod, said finger piece having an inoperative position permitting relative rotary movement between the rod and tube and having an operative position providing a positive mechanical clutch between the rod and tube, said finger being substantially free to move from one to the other of said positions.

7. A hair curler comprising an outer tube, a central rod rotatably mounted therein, a finger piece at one end for rotating the central rod, said finger piece having an inoperative position permitting relative rotary movement between the rod and tube and having an operative position providing a positive mechanical clutch between the rod and tube, said finger being substantially free to move from one to the other of said positions, and a frail spring acting on the finger piece to prevent accidental movement of the same away from either of said positions.

8. A hair curler comprising an outer tube, a central rod mounted therein for rotary movement, and a clutch including rigid coacting clutch elements having contacting fiat interengaging faces for securing the tube and rod locked against relative rotary movement, and means engaging one of the clutch elements for releasing the interengagement between said fiat faces and thus permit relative rotary movement between the tube and rod.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this 15th day of March A. D. 1926.

JOHN METZ. 

